Cigarette lighters create a flame by making a spark directly adjacent a flow of flammable vapor. The flow of flammable vapor may be facilitated by the selected release of compressed flammable liquid from a pressurized holding tank included on the lighter or by the conveyance of flammable liquid from an atmospheric tank via a wick wherein the liquid evaporates adjacent the spark creating means.
The spark creating means typically consists of a spark generator usually a flint which is fixably secured in abutment with a rotatable abrasive striker or may be a piezzo electric crystal. As the striker is rotated, sparks are created by the contact of the striker and the flint. If a wick type lighter is used, the sparks ignite the evaporating flammable liquid creating a flame. If pressurized gas is used, the operator usually depresses a lever with the downward motion of the digit chosen to rotate the striker, thereby releasing the pressurized gas which is consequently ignited by the near simultaneous creation of the sparks.
The use of a digit, typically the thumb, to rotate the striker and depress the lever in simultaneous sequence is an activity requiring little coordination, being easily copied by small children who may be unaware of the consequences of this action. Cigarette lighter manufacturers have improved the ignition procedure by eliminating the use of an individually operated striker substituting instead a piezzo electric crystal and creating a lighter wherein the striker and the gas supplying means are simultaneously and collectively activated by the depression of a single lever. In the pursuit of easily ignited cigarette lighters, the manufacturers have failed to provide such lighters with sufficient safety mechanisms that could prevent small children from causing harm to themselves or others by the inadvertent or mischievous ignition of such lighters.